2006
Pat Jenkins |
We lost Pat Jenkins in October. As lead trumpet and last of the long running Savoy “house band” the Savoy Sultans, he had been a major link. He insisted the formidable reputation the Sultans established amongst a range of leading jazz musicians arose from their dedication to playing for Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers. As far as he was concerned the drive came from the dancers, and he still fondly remembered them when I last spoke to him earlier that year.2005
Coley Wallace
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Leonard ReedLeonard Reed, (not a Lindy Hopper of course) the co-creator of the Shim Sham also passed. However he booked Shorty Snowden’s dancers and Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers into the Cotton Club shows he produced, and just about everybody on the scene back then seemed to know him personally. |
ScottyScotty, Frankie Manning’s close Savoy buddy left us unexpectedly. Always on-scene and mostly in the background, he was one of the last of the regular bunch of "Savoy guys" who kept turning up to everything in NYC where there was even a whisper of Lindy Hopping taking place. |
Charlotte "Mommy" ThackerCharlotte “Mommy” Thacker, one of the leading third generation Savoy Lindy Hoppers from the 1950s left us. After the Savoy closed she danced regularly with Sonny Allen and the Rockets, and later on continued to train new Lindy Hoppers including her own daughters Margaret and Valerie who are still out there carrying on the legacy. |
Tyrone Cooper
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This was a sad year considering the range of people who passed on. Coley Wallace, last of the Savoy bouncers went in January. It is always worth emphasising the role those guys played in shaping Lindy Hop through their insistence on respectful behaviour on everyone’s part. It’s hard to imagine how the dance would have acquired its extraordinary sensitivity without them.
Tyrone Cooper died tragically in an auto-accident in November. It was a terrible shock and the size of his funeral indicated the depth of feeling involved. Joining the Mama Lou Parks dancers in the late 1970s he rapidly became a formidable exponent. It was an absolute joy pouring over Lindy photos with him and listening to his seemingly endless delight in analysing the technical aspects of the dancing.